A-List Actresses in Bad Movies

In this episode, we talk about classic film actresses such as Joan Crawford, Paulette Goddard, Miriam Hopkins and Mary Pickford. This time we talk about some head scratching roles that some of our favorite actresses took late in their careers. 

Movies such as Trog, Babes in Bagdad, and Escort Girl are just a few that we talk about in this light hearted episode. Click to listen! 🎥🎥🎬🎬

Thanks for listening! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Well, hello, and welcome to Cinema Chat with David Heath. And I am your host, David Heath. And this is the podcast where we talk about movies from every era and just about every genre. And in this week's episode, we have an interesting subject. Something I have kind of had on the back of my head for quite a while. Sometimes these ideas uh come to my head. I write them down or and and then uh like I look at my list and the list grows. And I know my son asked me, he said, Do you ever run out, think you're ever gonna run out of ideas for podcast episodes? And and I my response was no, I'm I'm not. The list grows, it doesn't shrink, it grows. Every week I come up with two or three ideas compared to the one episode that I actually record. I have so much fun talking about these movies. This uh movie this podcast episode, we are going to talk about classic film actresses that were in pretty big movies, uh, that somehow summed late in their career into a movie that you know is less than what you would expect from from uh that particular actress. And I was going to do ten um and it turns out to be twelve. Uh but before we get into that, I I want to ask you a question. Have you subscribed to the show yet? If not, whatever platform you're listening to, uh your platform of choice, subscribe to the show because it helps the the podcast trend. Uh and especially if I could really ask you a big favor to write a nice review for me. And that helps the show trend as well. And uh I looked at the the list of most popular movie podcasts, and my my podcast is way too low. Uh so of course a lot of the people that are above me were famous prior to doing this, uh uh doing a podcast themselves. So uh so you gotta cut me a break. But been doing this since 2018, and we're happy to keep pushing through. So seven years of doing this, over 400 episodes in. Uh, I really appreciate everybody that's listened to it, especially if you're one of the people that's listened to all the episodes. I don't know how many people have done that, but I I really appreciate it. Uh, but we are going to talk about uh 12 classic film actresses, and we're pushing the boundary a little bit on what classic film may be. Uh, but uh, you know, you'll uh cut me a break on that uh because the the the subject is is just so fun. Uh, but I want to say that I love all these these actresses, and uh I do this in a very loving and respectful way. Uh but it is uh it is fun to compare and contrast the movies that I'm going to talk about, the the real big movies that these actresses were in compared to what they did late in their career with at least one particular production. And uh so uh without further notice uh or adieu, as I say, uh let's get into it. Okay, so our first actress that we're going to talk about is uh Miriam Hopkins. Uh Miriam Hopkins, uh, we've did done a couple of episodes on her films. We did uh one uh uh about centering all around Miriam Hopkins uh several years ago. And uh we also talked with Scott Ratner uh about the movie Trouble in Paradise, uh, which is a really good episode. Um Miriam Hopkins uh was nominated for two Academy Awards uh for Becky Sharp, which isn't a great movie, but it it's a great performance by Miriam Hopkins and uh The Heiress uh she was nominated for Best Supporting was also a great performance. And of course, that is a great film. We did an episode on The Heiress, too. So we've got three uh episodes centered all around Miriam Hopkins, but but uh uh Miriam Hopkins, uh long list of uh films uh from the pre-code era, um all the way into the classic, uh late deep into the classic film era. Um but uh she was in one movie, and and keep in mind that these movies uh are not movies that for the most part that I hate. Um, and I don't expect all the audience to hate them either, but uh but um there's no question that there's a uh you know a beneath the standard thing going on, and there's no question that you wouldn't expect uh these actresses, uh you know, when they were were performing early in their careers. And sometimes uh sometimes act actors uh if they will be in movies early in their career because they're just getting a check and they're glad to get off of somebody somebody else's sofa. Maybe they can buy they maybe they can take care of of themselves because there's so many people in Hollywood over the last hundred years that you know just live with on other people's sofas, or you know, so because they cannot afford a place to live because they can't get a job as an actor, and then they finally make it big, and uh things are different instantly. Uh sometimes when you get a nice check for a nice role. Miriam Hopkins had a number of those roles, a significant number. The list is really long. Um, and uh, but she was in a movie in 1970, uh, which has two names. I I've all I've I've always said on the podcast, uh, beware when a film has a different name decades later than it's than it started with. Uh, because oftentimes it it there's a reason. They're they're kind of hiding the title and making it dressing it up, making it look like it's something different. Uh, but this movie uh was uh originally titled Hollywood Horror House. And uh and uh the but the um um the film got changed and I haven't been able to decipher when uh but uh the it got changed to a movie called uh Savage Intruder or Intruder. Um and um this is a movie that they that they uh have hence called Hagsploitation. That's H A G Hag's Ploitation. Um and it is definitely that. Uh you know, we see Miriam Hopkins uh in a role where she's behaving were uh worse than she does in any or any of her previous roles. She is just uh you know uh she's a rich retired actress, uh, you know, which of course she pretty much fit that role. But she's a rich retired actress, but she's so mean to people and just um kind of cranky and snobby and all these things. However, there's a lot of there's a or there's a little bit of Champagne Ivy in the role, too. Champagne Ivy, her role, and in um the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1931 with Frederick Marsh. Uh, if you've seen her in that movie, well, almost 40 years later, you see her behave that way one more time um in this because she goes to a party where all these uh hippie people basically are are partying pretty hard doing drugs. Uh she ends up getting some uh drugs herself inside the her drink, uh, which is really her drug of choice, is alcohol. She loves her alcohol. Uh, but the movie is labeled as a hag exploitation. And you know, you could say almost hag exploitation slash sexploitation. Uh, you actually see more of Miriam Hopkins' body in this movie than you do uh any of her other movies. Um, you know, she is getting a massage and she she gets up, and then we have uh almost 70-year-old um uh Miriam Hopkins. Uh we see not all of her glory, but she we see a lot, and a lot more than you would expect um from her at certainly at that point in her career. But um the movie doesn't just have Miriam Hopkins. Um uh well let me also explain that the movie is is uh also it is a suspense thriller. Um it's uh it's a it's kind of a uh mean and nasty knockoff of uh of Hitchcock. Um, you know, um it's a lot more brutal um and it has uh you know some blood in it and uh you know and it doesn't have implied murder, it has real murder, and you you know you see it, and and when you see it, it's a little bit more uh it's a little bit more uh hard to take, you know. But uh in any case, um uh the movie uh also has uh uh Reza Royce. You might not know that name, but uh she was in movies prior to this, but uh much uh earlier. Uh but she was married to Joseph von Sternberg, the great director. Um it also has uh Minta Durfee, who was Roscoe Arbuckle's wife many years before this movie was made, and uh and Gail uh Sondergaard, another classic film actress, and also an Oscar winner. Uh so uh it's it's got a really uh impressive cast. Gail Sondergaard, of course, won her Oscar for um uh uh Anthony Adverse, you know, 40 years prior to this, uh, or almost 40 years. And uh it also has uh look for Joe Besser. It's not hard to find. He's not hard to find because he's real easy to spot in anything, and he sticks out in like a sore thumb. At the beginning of the movie, we have comic relief, and uh uh and then he shows up at the end, too. No um no spoiler there, but he does show up at the end. Um, but it's just interesting to see uh Miriam Hopkins, who played so many proper ladies, and of course she's proper here too, in a way, but it's just you wouldn't expect her to be in basically an exploitation film. And our next actress uh is of course everybody knows her. Um, it's uh Joan Crawford, and so uh Joan Crawford, of course, uh a name everybody knows, uh Oscar winner, uh for Mildred Pierce, uh just an absolutely fantastic performance. Uh Grand Hotel uh and uh Johnny Guitar. Uh some people might argue that's not a great movie, but I would disagree um vehemently. I don't say that word very often, but I would vehemently disagree with anyone. Doesn't say that Johnny Guitar is a great movie, and at some point we are going to do a podcast on that particular movie. Um, but uh she was in talking about Joan Crawford.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Please try to describe it. I don't think I've ever seen before. You're the only one who something survived. Whatever it is, it must exist. It's still there, trapped. I must go into that cave before the police.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Uh, so she is in a movie uh called Trog. Uh, you may have seen it, uh, but this also came out in 1970. And uh Hollywood was changing. There were a lot of B movies in the 40s and 50s, uh, you know, but these B movies were were quite a bit more uh well, they're just just different. Uh, you know, you you've got movies uh, you know, like Tarantula and uh the 50s that were genuinely good movies with crazy premises about crazy monsters. Um, but as time went on, uh, when you see Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and movies like that, and and then you see Joan Crawford uh stooping down to be in Trog, which isn't that bad of a movie, but it is really bad in it it is pretty bad. But it's not the worst movie ever, but it is not a movie that was becoming of Joan Crawford, and uh she you know, I think I I if I'm not mistaken, I think uh that people didn't have bad things to say about her on the set. I could be way off, um, but that was uh my understanding, or at least that's what I have heard or read. But I may be wrong, you know, maybe someone's gonna come at me with uh hey, you know, no, she was really bad on that set, and people she was mean to everybody. I uh but that is not uh the the way I've heard it. But basically, Trog is essentially a monster movie. This uh prehistoric looking creature uh turns well, he's just a monster, and and and the idea is to figure out how and why this happened. And uh we've talked about Joan Crawford a few times uh on the the podcast. If you scroll down, we did an episode uh uh with uh a biographer. Uh we've done two um actual episodes uh about Joan Crawford uh uh with one Joan Crawford biographers. Um we of course uh have talked about uh we all I ask I also did an episode, unfortunately, uh with somebody. I I I won't name the person, but I I did an episode about Mel Mildred Pierce, and and it was a really, really good episode. Uh however, something happened to the recording, and uh it's like an hour long and 55 minutes of it was unintelligible. And I don't know what happened with the recording, but there was something wrong. It was a hissing sound, and you couldn't hear what we were saying. You could only hear the hissing sound, and um I feel so terrible. Uh, but I wanted to re-record it, but I didn't have the heart to ask the person to re-record it with me, so I had to just say, hey, unfortunately, this uh got uh uh botched somehow by me. Uh but I I still to this day don't know how that's happening. But I stopped recording with that particular mechanism. So hopefully that won't ever happen again. Uh but yeah, Joan Crawford and Trog. Um, you know, you can YouTube the trailer and you'll be looking at it like, what in the world am I what am I looking at? And the same thing with the the um Savage Intruder with Miriam Hopkins. You're gonna say, what are we looking at? And and that's kind of the the whole premise of this episode, is to kind of just say, hey, look, look at this great Hollywood movie star, and how did she end up in this? That's kind of thing. Uh there's something that Miriam Hopkins had in common common with Joan Crawford, which by the way, you know, let's just say something about Joan Crawford that um I we probably mentioned before. I uh I I want to say this is a woman that reinvented herself. She was in silent films, pre-code films, um, and uh then she went on to the classic film era uh we're under the the the Hayes Code um and then went on uh and reinvented herself went uh to you know be in noirs and uh she eventually was uh in this movie called Trog. Um but Joan Crawford was somebody that constantly reinvented herself uh to um fit the needs of the screen, and you have to take your hat off to what Joan Crawford did as an actress. And what you see in like mommy dearest, and I mentioned this before on the podcast, but if you haven't he heard me mention it, you know what you see in the movie Mommy Dearest um is just you know it's just muff it may it may some of it may be true, um, but um most of it is probably overblown. Um, but in any case, we'll get back to Mommy Dearest in a little bit. Uh then there you'll see why uh when we talk about another actress. But um Miriam Hopkins and Joan Crawford had one thing hugely in common, uh, which uh they were never in a movie together, but one thing they had in common was they both had a rivalry. And can you guess who that rivalry was with? Uh none other than Betty Davis. Um yeah, the the great Betty Davis, uh winner of two Oscars are Dangerous and All About Eve, and just in general, somebody that just uh was fabulous in every role she was in. Um, you know what's funny? When I was uh an adolescent uh growing up, I I I actually for a while thought Betty Davis and John Crawford were the same person. I actually thought that because I I never saw them uh I never saw their movies until I was probably a teenager. But you know, since I've I've seen pretty much uh all of Joan Crawford's work, most of what's available, and and um um close to two two-thirds of Betty Davis's work. Uh there's a few movies I'm missing from her, but um, but uh you know, Betty Davis, great actress by any measure, um, but uh she was in a movie uh in 1989.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Mary's home. They got a new stepmother.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

How could you bring that woman into our house?

SPEAKER_01 20:59

We do have a great sense.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

I realize I'm in the cloud.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

No, they couldn't be happier.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Uh so wicked stepmother. Um wow. Wicked stepmother. Uh directed by uh Larry Cohen. Uh it uh she plays uh Betty Davis plays uh the role of yeah, the wicked stepmother, but um it's just uh it made the movie made$70,580. That's that's and um it's it's it is a huge fall from from the greatness that Betty Davis was associated with. And uh it's just kind of funny. This is uh like I said, these movies uh uh they have Have a certain charm, even if they're bad. Um this one, you know, yeah Betty doing Betty, but it's it's rough, it's rough, let's just say, and it's it's far from not nothing wrong with her performance, you know. But the thing is, is when a great actor is in a really bad movie, uh, you know, much later, like some of these, um, it's more pronounced. It looks more obvious that it's bad movie. And because, you know, it it's like uh uh you know the lipstick on a pig thing or putting a uh you know a tuxedo on on uh and I don't want to be mean, but you you you know what I'm talking about. Uh there's just uh a certain thing about some of these movies. And this one was 1989, so pretty, pretty far distanced from you know her all about Eve, and or you know, really great great films. Um, but it's it's fun though. If if you just want to see the trailer, it's fun to think about. But it's a bad movie, uh almost by any measure. And I I did subject myself to it, but it's it's pretty bad. Uh so our our next actress uh is uh Paula Goddard. Uh Oscar nomination for So Proudly We Hail, and uh deserved an Oscar nomination for the great dictator of modern times, possibly deserved a nomination for the women uh with all of those great actresses, including Joan Crawford, who's also on the list. But I think Paulette Goddard steals the show and the women, don't you? I mean, I I it's Paula Goddard is one of the most underappreciated actresses uh I think that ever lived. She was so fascinating to watch, and her range was quite large. Um she, of course, was almost in Gone with the Wind before Liv Vivin Lee got the got the role. Uh long story there, but uh but but basically uh she is just uh an actress that mesmerizes me because uh she has this uh very uh innocent sex appeal and and and she is often sweet but sassy. Uh she's able to uh interweave all kinds of different things in her roles, and it uh it's just I I'm so impressed with the work of Paul Goddard. I mean, I think that there's a another universe of where she was a much she'd be a much bigger name. Um but people don't put her in the classes of the other actress that I've just mentioned, but she deserves to go there because she was a really good actress. Um, she was able to do comedy very well. Um, and uh she was also able to do uh heavy drama, and uh she was able to do uh period dramas. Uh she was just so capable and such a great actress. Um she, of course, was married to Charlie Chaplin and did uh Modern Times of the Great Dictator with him, and they eventually divorced. Um her career never really was great after that period. Um, as uh we know uh at uh actresses uh more so than male actors, uh they you know at in the in the classic film era, uh you know, and pretty far beyond uh once you hit 40, you just not a lot of use for a Hollywood producer, right? But uh nonetheless, Polite Goddard continue to get roles, however, there are two that are very difficult to uh comprehend. And one is a movie uh called Sins of Jezebel, uh, which by the way also has Joe Besser. Uh and if you if you're listening to this and saying, Who's Joe Besser? Um, he was uh in the last iteration of the Three Stooges, and so everybody thinks Curly uh when they think of you know Mo, Larry, and Curly. Um but of course the the third banana changed um uh three times uh after Curly. So, you know, we have uh was it four times? I forget. But in any case, uh we have Joe Besser being the last of the of the uh in the last iteration of the stooges. But uh Joe Besser is in this movie called Synthes Jezebel, which appears to be, you know, like a biblical epic um, you know, a la ten commandments. Uh um but it doesn't fit that, you know. The the the costumes are the costumes are fine. Uh it's not the costumes, but the writing is is is pretty bad. Um the overall production uh is um is a little sloppy, but um not the worst movie you'll ever see, um, but uh it is it's definitely um a head scratcher compared to the other works uh of Paulette Goddard, the earlier uh her earlier roles. Um but the year prior to that, she has a movie called the you know, we're mentioning two movies this time. She has a movie called Babes of Baghdad, 1952, uh, which she starred in with Gypsy Rose Lee, um the famous uh stripper. I don't know what uh but uh Babes of Baghdad is exactly what it sounds like. Um, you know, it's pretty tame. Um it isn't 1952, um, but it is a far drop off from the stuff that you would expect to see from uh Paula Goddard. And I and I just think she's just fabulous. And I just uh at some point I'm gonna do an episode where we focus a lot on Paulette Goddard. Um, but um, yeah, these two movies, Senza Jezebel and Baisa Baghdad, are slight head scratchers, but they're really not, and it's a testament uh to uh what Hollywood actresses had to go through. And uh and and it was the men did it too a little bit. Um, you know, you you know, you didn't see uh you know uh all the actors from the the golden age uh make it into the 60s and 70s either. It was it was a little difficult for them too. You reach a certain point where you just can't be the romantic lead, and they Hollywood just has less use for you. Uh but um let's see, our our next um actress um is um really a much sadder tale, but um belongs on the list nonetheless. Um, our actress is the peekaboo girl, uh Veronica Lake, who of course was in several noirs that were just fabulous, even though she didn't really particularly like noir, uh she was really good in those in the noirs that she was in. Uh, but she was also in Sullivan's Travels, uh proved to do comedy well and uh proved to do drama well. And Veronica Lake, uh, there are a good portion of people uh that would say she was the most beautiful actress of her time. And um, I might be one of those, uh actually, uh of her time. Um this gun for hire, the glass key, uh, some really great movies. Now Veronica Lake's window is quite a bit shorter than the other actress we mentioned. Um she was really only popular for a decade, uh, or famous for a decade. But uh, and she, of course, unfortunately, if you didn't know, had a lot of trouble. And so we're not, you know, just we're not really making fun of these actresses. We we love these these ladies, but um it is just interesting to see um the little fall that's that uh um that they they had. Um but she was in uh a movie.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

The most hideous scheme in the history of mankind brings in the screen of diabolic introduction with the green where violent men quickly eliminate those who're in their way.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

I appreciate your help once we have some time.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Very, very important.

SPEAKER_02 32:13

Uh so in nineteen seventy, again, something about that year brought out some of the worst. Uh, but it is a movie called Flesh Feast, directed by Brad uh Grant Gainter. Um never directed another star before or since, but did have a handful of pretty bad movies. So to call them B movies would probably be uh giving it too much credit. Um, but uh here we have Veronica Lake. Unfortunately, had now we you know I again I I I want to be respectful and uh explain that uh we do this out of love. Uh Veronica Lake was a total disaster of a person uh by 1970. She had uh become uh she had aged you know really badly, uh years of years of drinking and smoking, and um and uh there's some really bad and sad tales about what Veronica League was going through in the 50s and 60s uh when her heyday was over. Um but she's in this really odd movie called Flesh Feast in 1970. Um and it's just um it's just a weird drop-off, and uh she is not really old in this movie, uh when this movie was made. She was not really old, but she looks it, and it's it's pretty it's pretty bad. And this uh is really probably the second worst movie on our list today. Um, it is even worse than Babes of Baghdad, which is pretty bad. Pretty bad. Uh uh a movie that some would call really bad. It comes from our next actress, which uh comes from a much different era. Um, and we're not gonna go deep into the 70s with this one. Uh, we only make it to the pre-code era. Why? Because our actress is Mary Pickford, uh, the uh the the girl they called America's sweetheart, uh the girl with the curls. This is another thing they called her. 247 film credits. Uh, think about that for a minute. 247 film credits, and um that's a lot of movies, and most of which she was the headliner. Um, you know, in movies uh such as uh Tess of the Storm County or Country uh and uh Little Annie Rooney and uh Stella Maris and just in so many good movies, um movies that were really good that she made great, and some so-so movies that she made good. Um Mary Pickford just there's something very special about her screen presence. Um, it's so different than all the other ladies on our list, uh, because she just looked like a sweet young girl. Uh well once once uh the silent film era ended, it was a very unfortunate time for a lot of actresses. Um uh you have actresses like uh Clara Beau, who had a really difficult time uh with the the microphone. Uh even though I like Clara Beau's voice, I I I you know I I don't know that that's what I would have expected uh you know to hear of you know that accent, but but uh but we have Mary Pickford who is in a movie where called Coquette, which is by just about everybody's standards, you know, really awful. And she won an Academy Award for what many would say was her worst performance. And many would say, I would say, her only bad one that I've seen. And it is pretty bad. Coquette is really just a bad performance, um, pretty pretty much by everybody, the director, the writer, uh nothing was good about coquette, but Mary Pickford did win the Oscar. Um, and uh, you know, but it's almost inexplicable because it's a rotten movie. That isn't even the movie we're gonna mention. Um, the movie that we're gonna mention is a movie I actually like, and others don't. Um, but she was in a movie called Kiki in 1931. This is her final film, and um many people will fight me on over Kiki because I I don't love it, but I like it. I think it's cute and I think it has charm. Um, I I like seeing Mary Pickford doing you know broad comedy and um slightly body comedy. Um not too much, but it it it's slightly body, and but it it's it's it's broad comedy and uh it's slapstick, and uh she you know has a scene where she falls into um the band box, and and I think that's charming and fun. Mary Pickford did not. Um, so that's why the movie's on our list, because most people would disagree with me that you know Kiki, not a good movie, it's not a good movie, let's you know, put that way, but but I enjoy Kiki. I get some sort of weird thrill uh out of watching Mary Pickford not be a little girl. I I for some reason I like that, I don't know why. But um, you know, she was uh deep into her 30s, almost 40 years old when she made Kiki. Um, but she couldn't look 13 anymore. She had to be your age because her voice just didn't lend to uh you know a 12-year-old girl or 13-year-old girl. You see her in Little Annie Rooney, um, you know, as someone who what was she 33 or something? Um and then she's um in Kiki, uh you know, and she's aging at that point. But uh anyway, if you want to get a real kick out of something, Google Mary Pickford, Alice in Wonderland, and you'll see she uh she's it's a grown woman trying to play Alice. Um, and Walt Disney was going to make a movie, uh a live action movie with um Alice in Wonderland. Um but uh for uh for more than one reason, he uh he decided to shelf the the the project and eventually made an animated um version of it. But uh Kiki is just an interesting movie. Um, I don't know that I would say that this is a really good movie. Uh this is a real certainly not a great movie, um, but it is a fun movie if you just know what it is going into it. With going with bad expectations, you'll be pleasantly surprised if you go in there expecting, oh, it's Mary Pickford, she's a renowned actress, and and then you're going to be a little disappointed. But um just go into it with like, hey, this isn't that great of a movie. Um, but it is fun to watch Mary Pickford behave that way. But having said that, she hated that, you know, she hated that. And um, we've had a couple episodes, we've had more than a couple episodes where we where we talked um a lot about Mary Pickford, um, and uh just um another one of those actresses uh because she had her heyday in the silent era, uh so many people just don't know even who she is. Um you know it's it's it's pretty sad actually. Uh but and that's one reason why we do the podcast. We we like to highlight uh these great performers and these great directors, and uh Mary Bickford was definitely a great performer. Um and uh she is just uh one of the loveliest uh performers uh that the screen has ever had. Uh but Kiki is below the standard, and uh if you you see the movie uh expecting to see the little girl with the curls, well you're gonna be disappointed if that's what you wanted to see. Um that you're going to see uh a basically a middle-aged woman and this in a spot where uh she just is uh performing differently than before. Um uh let's see. Uh our next uh actress uh is uh uh Gloria Gor Graham, who s starred uh in several noir films uh with uh with Bogie and in uh In a Lonely Place uh with Kirk Douglas and the Bad and the Beautiful. Uh she was in the movie Sudden Fear uh with Joan Crawford uh uh the and the big heat with Glenn Ford. However, in 1989, she was in a different kind of movie. Excuse me, 1981.

SPEAKER_01 42:11

Fear visits many places, but this is where it lives. The nesting.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Uh the nesting, yeah, night. Uh and it it stars uh uh it stars uh uh Robin Groves, Christopher Loomis, Michael Dave Lally. Have you heard of them? No, I hadn't uh I hadn't either, but uh it also has John Carradine. But John Carradine is no stranger to really bad movies, uh, because uh he was in a number of them. Uh but this one was uh there's a little bit of history with it. Uh uh the the the film uh according to Wik Wikipedia was seized and confiscated in the UK under the Obscene Publications Act uh 1959. Um and uh uh but they uh the movie also has Gloria Graham uh receiving uh what fifth billing and uh by pretty much everybody's reviews was uh was pretty bad. Uh and uh but the the film definitely has some shock value. It definitely has some shock value. And I um there were a couple of good reviews, uh, but um but regardless uh if if you like it or not, it is not something that uh you expect from a classic film actress like like Gloria Graham, um, and uh just not something you would expect. And our next actress um is uh pushing the boundaries of classic filmdom filmed them. Is that a word filmdum? Um uh Faye Dunaway uh Network Chinatown Bonnie and Clyde Three Does the Condor um Faye Dunaway was almost the face uh of new Hollywood uh you know from 1968 um until about 1980 or so certainly for a decade she just absolutely ruled the box office um you know why not because she is such a fabulous actress uh she's gorgeous uh and there's so many uh great attributes to Faye Dunaway now of course uh there's a few that some people would say that she might be a little hard to get along with um you know of course we want to talk about for a minute again we want to revisit the mommy dearest thing um uh first of all uh she is still living uh but um but mommy dearest if you haven't seen or if you have seen it uh or well let's okay let's back up if you haven't seen mommy dearest uh you're not missing much you know you're not uh but here we have Faye Denaway who's turning in such a great performance that the movie just look is bad um you know but the movie's really bad partially because of her great performance it's a very strange thing that because it's so over the top um and uh unbelievable but I think that's what they were going for. I think she did exactly what she was supposed to do uh which was to be over the top and being a little nuts. Um but if you didn't know and if you have seen it here's an interesting tidbit Betty Davis uh in uh upon seeing mommy dearest defended her longtime and bitter rival Joan Crawford saying that Joan uh was a consummate professional and always showed up on time and always hit her marks and always did everything right um but when she performed Betty Davis is talking about when she performed with Faye Dunaway that didn't happen she said Faye Dunaway was always late and um caused lots of problems on the set and of course Joan and Betty worked together one time um you know but uh they were bitter rivals no question about it so it's heartening to see Betty Davis uh be defensive of Joan Crawford but in in turn she ends up being harshly critical of mommy dearest um and you know I've never seen a quote from Faye Dunaway about Betty Davis so I I can't see how reciprocal that feud might be but uh she may have made comments and I and uh if you if you feel free to forward those to me if you got them but uh but she was harshly critical of mommy dearest uh but uh Faye Dunaway uh if if you want to call this thing a feud with Betty Davis she had a really odd feud with all people Hilary Duff now maybe you missed it about 10 years ago uh uh well it was more than 10 years ago it's like 2010 I think um uh but uh they were going to do a remake of Bonnie and Clyde and they were going to put Hilary Duff in the role and Faye Dunaway's quote and I'm paraphrasing as oh I thought they were going to get a real actress for it at least um and uh then Hilary Duff who is um always a nice always a nice person never says anything terrible uh but she said um you know I I can't blame her for feeling that way because um you know basically saying if I felt if I were old like that I'd probably be bitter too that kind of thing I paraphrasing big time on that but but it's just an interesting and fun little thing. I wish it would have gone a little further than that because it would have been kind of fun to see more barbs going back and forth. But uh we said all that to say this Faye Dunaway was in a movie called The Seduction of Dr. Fugazi in 2009 a thriller that that failed to thrill anybody it's 2009 and um I have to admit I put myself through the torture of that movie and it is not good. It is not good. It's not good I'm always I always lean toward being kind to films and filmmakers and and to the actors that are in them this is just not a good production at all uh the seduction of Dr. Figazi um and I know I pushed the boundaries a little bit um I say classic film actresses uh with Faye Dunaway but I think that when you go to all the way back to 1968 and you realize Bonnie and Clyde uh you know that that's it's a it's definitely a classic by now. It's not necessarily the classic film era it's the new Hollywood era but we're gonna we're gonna do it for the purposes of this particular episode. There's absolutely no denying how great of an actress that Faye Dunaway is and there was a documentary on her I forget what app it was on but I watched a documentary on Faye Dunaway and she is very self-aware um but I don't think she can help herself I think that's just kind of she's just kind of um hard to get along with on the set and um you know there are a couple other actress that have that tag too um you know I've already mentioned three of them I think you probably already know who two of them are um or really there's four of them actually how they think about it um but uh you can probably name two of them at least and I have already mentioned them in this little subset of the conversation um but we we won't go any further with that um our our next uh actress is actually two actresses uh in in two different movies or one in one movie and we've just recently done an episode on both of them because unfortunately both of them just recently passed uh so we're talking about Claudia Cardinelli and Brigitte Bardot um they were in another movie with with two titles uh it's uh called petroleum girls or and it's also called the legend of Frenchie King uh now in theory this is a really fun prospect of a movie you you've got two absolute legends um legend Frenchie king uh you've got two ladies who are just absolutely um just they owned the 60s they were just so good um you know really good actresses and also just absolutely gorgeous beautiful ladies um and they own the screen when they're when they're on it and so it's really great to have them both on the screen together and there are a couple of really riotous scenes in this movie it's just not a terrible movie it's not um it I think it's a an okay movie um the problem is is they is they were speaking multiple languages on the set um i i've i forget how many but it was um it was at least three different languages that were being spoken on the set and that had people involved with those languages that didn't speak uh english french or italian uh you know one of the three um and uh and that's what those were the languages that were primarily on the set um and there just was a Tower of Babel thing going on um you know which essentially what I mean by that is the people not being able to communicate very well with each other so the end product is substandard um but having said that it's a spectacle um and it is a lot of fun to watch um and these two ladies are just positively beautiful I and and um I mean we did do an episode on each one uh soon after their deaths and unfortunately uh one came right after the other uh we had first Claudia and then Brigitte um and uh I you know I think um I'm not gonna say they defined an era uh because they really didn't do that but um but there's no question that they changed um they changed the movies uh and I think in particular Bardot with um her uh some of our early films uh was able to um uh take what take what uh Marilyn and Jane Mansfield were doing and take it to a higher level and in in more than one way you know be more than just a sex symbol and more than just a really you know good actress but but doing both at a high level and um you know uh for the English speakers uh out there and people that only watch English speaking movies um there's a treasure trough of of films out there with Claudia and Brishi uh that um if it you if it's untapped uh by you then you should you should get involved with it and uh put some of those movies on your list uh because they are joyous and uh and what you got to do is what I say about a lot of silent films is you turn off all the lights in your house you put your phone somewhere in a different room and then you just pretend like you're in the movie theater um and then you won't lose track what's going on with the with the um uh dialogue and uh you can read the subtitles and um and just enjoy uh the the the films because both of those ladies made some really great films um in uh the it's particularly in the 60s um but here uh we have um a movie in 1971 uh that um it's a it's it's a fine film it's uh it's you know it's only scores five by three on IMBD which is really low extremely low but um but I think it's a lot better than that I I I don't think it's a it's certainly not a perfect movie um but it it's it's worth the look especially just to see uh the two of those uh great um film legends on a screen together uh it does score a 3.1 on letterbox so uh so at least there's that uh but it is a western it's a it's a lot of fun to watch and uh worth your time uh our last actress is our only other living uh actress so speaks the darling of Dayton the loyal woman who just happened to come to Denver and just happened to marry one of the richest men in the country while taking dictation and God knows what else from him you better be prepared to be really loyal to him now Christ by the time I finished with him every man woman and child in this state is going to know him for the coward he really is every time he steps onto a podium every time he goes on a television show they're gonna laugh him off it I want to see that he's completely finished and I want to be the one who does it okay so if you didn't recognize the voice that is the voice of Joan Collins now of course this isn't uh um a film it was from uh the TV show dynasty which Joan Collins um actually pretty much up in it and took uh took up for her own and uh of course I've never watched dynasty uh when it was on um I was always uh I was always a JRUing guy I watched uh Dallas I I didn't watch dynasty almost out of protest I know a lot of people watched both but almost out of both but when you see joan collins um you can't help but be mesmerized by her she's just absolutely uh you know a vicious woman in that and of course she played that that role so you know so well um you know from uh many accounts uh joan collins is um i i'm I I think um I think a nice person um I've I know when you watch someone in interviews uh you're not always gonna get the real thing um but um I just haven't heard a lot of bad things about her yeah I'm sure that she's um you know got a a nose that sticks up a little bit but um um but yeah she is uh uh she's a fabulous actress uh and um you know she's 92 and yeah she doesn't look it uh but she was in the 1956 uh film The Opposite Sex which is just absolutely fantastic just a uh really fun movie um and uh I highly recommend seeing that uh she was in a number of classic films and uh but she um was in a movie that's a little uh inexplicable um yeah she's uh in a movie called homework uh now this is coming off of being in a few uh body films uh from the the 70s um you know in a movie called the stud and uh uh but homework takes the cake um homework is a movie that scores five percent on Rotten Tomatoes uh Gene Siskel gave it zero stars out of four um variety called it a very poor very poorly made uh sex comedy uh another reviewer called it uh uh a miserable excuse for a movie one of the year's worst uh poor photography sloppy editing and atrocious acting and that the body double in the sex scene doesn't even resemble Collins um but yeah i it's uh to give you the uh just the the the letterbox um uh description good looking but virginal rock star teen teen Tommy uh tries to score with some of the local high school girls but a classmate's mom decides to make a man out of him and so now the interesting thing about this movie is that uh yeah the um um joan collins you know and I said it's inexplicable but maybe it is something you can explain um evidently Joan Collins shot scenes a couple years prior and not sex scenes and uh the movie depicts her in a sex scene which of course there's a body double and joan collins actually sued and successfully won a partial victory um you know because she actually was in in the movie and it was her but it wasn't her in the sex scene and and they also the the the company was cashing in on the uh on the dynasty thing with joan collins because um it was such a she had become such of a um uh a famous figure you know and had a renaissance uh in 1981 and 82 uh that these filmmakers that had most of the movie on uh and ready ready to go um but i I think the story goes like that where the movie may not have ever even seen the theater if it hadn't been for the fact that Joan Collins' popularity blew up um you know she was popular in the 50s and then I know when the 80s roll around and she is famous once again um but uh yeah there were there were actually uh you know uh Joan Collins uh Betty Thomas Carrie Snagrass and Lee Purcell uh all had legal this is according to Wikipedia all had legal action to take it to get their names removed from the credits uh so um it was just uh the rotten movie all the way through um and um and of course the premise of it um you know um my my friend's mom you know it's just tacky beyond belief so uh there you go um so we have our list here of um actresses that uh had a heyday let's just say mostly in the classic film era including joan collins uh that's where she gained her fame was the 50s um and uh but uh we're somehow in movies that were somewhat hard to explain um some of them are not really that bad um but all of them have some notoriety and all all of them are despised by some people at least um so that's our list uh tell me what you think and uh it's been a lot of fun doing this episode uh and uh i i you know i want to repeat that and none of these cases do i revel in the fact that these actresses were in movies that they weren't proud of um but not all of them were bad and and not all not all of them uh hated what they were in um a few of these movies i haven't heard anything about from those those actresses but but um for the most part these are still fun productions um not sure about four of them but the rest of them yeah they're it's worth a watch uh but anyway thanks so much for listening and don't forget to like and subscribe and please 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